Weekend Toy #2

It's in many pieces and several weeks away from completion, but the bare bones are there. Some mock up piccies:

Genuine Fiat VIN plate (for comedy value)

One engine, built by muggins, mid transit between car #1 and #2

 

[2fast2catch]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo looking forward to seeing the progress on this

no doubt will see you at pod sometime

 

[pgarner]

thinking i like the other one more, looks safer
a fiat powered by ~3000hp

 

[Massive]

cant wait to see it all finished up! id love to get my hands on that engine and dump it in my xsara

 

[Top Fuel Digger]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo looking forward to seeing the progress on this

no doubt will see you at pod sometime

The new one will hopefully debut at the pod at the end of April (and again the following weekend at Shakespeare County. In the meantime, the other car's being painted and will see a bit of action this year in amongst other events

thinking i like the other one more, looks safer

a fiat powered by ~3000hp

It's much of a muchness really. The other one's a little more lethal on the nadger department as one's nether regions sit ontop of the diff (which is normal for that type of chassis). With this one it's a bit more modern, but shaped like a brick and quite short, so it'll dance around quite a bit from mid track

cant wait to see it all finished up! id love to get my hands on that engine and dump it in my xsara

The Citroen wouldn't appreciate it lol. That and it's the sort of engine that will only run for 2 minutes at a time, and makes sufficient grunt to twist a purpose built chassis, nevermind a roadgoing floorpan whatsit

 

[obi_waynne]

Looks good, its even got windows! You didn't want to take chances with the rain again then

Do these have parachutes or just massive brakes?

 

[Top Fuel Digger]

Looks good, its even got windows! You didn't want to take chances with the rain again then

Do these have parachutes or just massive brakes?

Don't say the R word...it stops play more often than I'd like lol.

The new car has 2 12ft cross form chutes (as per the regulations), plus 4 wheel disc brakes. The slingshot has 1 chute and rear brakes only - simply because it was built to be as period looking as possible (i.e. how it would have been in the late 60's). As such, getting it stopped from a wee bit of speed isn't the easiest of things

 

[MrB]

loving these builds, but next time someone says my bootspoiler is too big im pointing them to you lol

 

[obi_waynne]

Perhaps you can answer this physics question for me.

At light speed can you see your reflection in the rear mirror?

 

[Top Fuel Digger]

I cant fit a mirror anywhere...

 

[obi_waynne]

Just do your hair before you get in!

 

[Top Fuel Digger]

Sorry for the delay folks, one's been a bit snowed under with work and things :sad2:

Anyway, a quick update. The blower was found to be quite properly damaged, and so has been repaired. The front casing gears were mullered, well and truly...

We stripped the motor down to the crank to check everything, and surprisingly, it still looks quite fresh. It took about 2 hours for 2 of us to take the whole thing apart, which isn't bad going really

Once put back together, the new headers could be mocked up. Old wives tales say they help stabilise the car if it gets up on 2 wheels, TBH though, we're only using them to get clearance on the body

Last week the transmission finally arrived, so that was dummied up at the weekend and just about fits nicely.

Next up is fitting the associated airlines and bits, and preparing for the first event for the car, at the end of May

 

[charger69]

let me guess, the chasis of the old fiat topolino?
looks nice, after you finish it, make sure to give it a run on santa pod, or anywhere else.

 

[Top Fuel Digger]

let me guess, the chasis of the old fiat topolino?
looks nice, after you finish it, make sure to give it a run on santa pod, or anywhere else.

The chassis is just a standard Nitro Funny Car chassis, which a multitude of bodies could be sat on. I have 2 national championships I compete in, and SPR is the only place prepped sufficiently to have enough traction.

 

[obi_waynne]

It looks like it has seen some action, glad to see the engine is holding up nicely.

 

[charger69]

The chassis is just a standard Nitro Funny Car chassis, which a multitude of bodies could be sat on. I have 2 national championships I compete in, and SPR is the only place prepped sufficiently to have enough traction.

man what would your advice be for a amateur drag racing fan?

 

[Top Fuel Digger]

man what would your advice be for a amateur drag racing fan?

It depends what the question is lol.
Do you mean from the point of view of getting started in the sport?

At the lower levels it's quite affordable, in so much as there's classes in which you can race a standard factory spec vehicle (known as Sportsman ET). This is bracket racing where you set your own dial in time and run as close to that as possible. As far as cost goes, it's the cheapest way of running in competition.

At the level I race at, it's a bit more expensive. The car cost around £50k to put together, and an event costs around £2k if you exclude wear on parts, damage etc. Through the course of a season it's probably £15k to race. This is before you add in the cost of travel, feeding a crew of 4 - 6 etc etc.